Washer



Marc'h 15, 1932'. A. R. ALLSU v1,849,3L'?

' WASHER I Filed May 27, 1929 2 sheetssheet 1 l l l l I l l l l l l @Em m msnm F'gf 3) 7M@ 4770' /Vff March 15, 1932. A, R, ALLSUP 1,849,342

WASHER Filed May 27, 1929 2 Sheets-Shee'. 2

Patented Mar. 15, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT oFF/ICE ALLEN R. ALLSUP, OF ST.lLOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR 0F SEVENTY PER CENT TO JUSTIN l d'1'. FLINT, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI WASHER Application led May 27, 1929. Serial No. 366,248.

` This invention relates to washers,and pertains more vparticularly to improvements in washing machines of the type used in commercial laundries and comprising generally :ahorizontalcylindrical shell or casing adapted to hold water, and a horizontal cylinder ywithin the shell and adapted to hold clothes provement described and claimed in the pres-V ent inventors prior application for United States kpatent for Washer, Serial 313,769, filed October 20, 1928. The washer of the 'said application discloses an improvedV form 'of vibrationless door that opens inwardly in contradistinction to the outwardly opening or sliding doors of prior washers, and the? eby eliminates troublesome latches, danger, and wear and tear on the washer and its contents.

AIt also discloses a cylinder that is devoid of the usual trunnions that project centrally from the heads of the cylinder, and, instead, is supported and rotates on rollers journaled in the shell vat the bottom of the cylinder, and is driven by a sprocket chain that passes around a. toothed ring that encircles an intermediate portion of the cylinder, thereby avoiding the difiiculties encountered when the warping of the cylinder results in disalinement of the trunnions.- y

The inwardly opening. door of the washer of the aforesaid application is formed of three hinged sections, and an object of the present invention is to provide a door of that character that consists of only two sections, and thereby simplify the door. The invention also aims to provide a door that can be opened wider than the door of the aforesaid application; that will be lighter in weight without sacrificing rigidity and that can be operated more easily; that will be less liable to become deranged; in which the laundry vcan not become caught 1n ioints and on proliect-ions; and which will present no portions th at can project outwardly from the cylinder when the door is closed.

A further purpose of the invention is the "provision of a novel method andv means for conveniently and expeditiously lifting the ,i

cylinder in the shell in order to be able to remove the rollers on which the cylinder is supported during the course of repairing the machine or for other reasons. y

Other objects, advantages, and desirable features of the invention will appear in the course of the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming partof this specification, in which likenum-k bers of reference denote like parts wherever they occur,

Figure l is a fragmentary front elevation of a cylinder of a washer embodying thedoor of the present invention, so much only'being shown as will suffice to show the connection of the present invention therewith;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the irregular line Q-2 in Figure 3; Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through the washer on the line 3 3 in Figure l; and

Figure 4 is a vert-ical sectional view'through the washer taken on the line 4-4 in Figure l. The principles of the invention may be embodied in any suitable form of washer, although the present embodiment, vfor the purpose of illustration only, andA not in a limiting sense, is associated with that form of washer illustrated and described in the aforesaid prior application for patent, and so much only of the aforesaid form of washer will now be described as will suffice to show .the connection of the present invention therewith.

It comprises a shell or outer casing, 1 of the usual form, with the exception that the usual central openings in the heads 2 of the shell for the reception of thetrunnions of the cylinder are omitted, and that a pair of openings 3 are formed near each end in Lthe bottom portion' of the cylindrical wall 4 of the shell to accommodate rollers 5 and 6 to be presently referred to. The shell l is supported att-he ends on standards 7. A pair of upright frames 8v adjoin the respective ends of the shell l, extending from the floor to a suitable height above the shell. The frames 8 are connected together at the top by the rods`9. surrounded by spaced tubes 10 and these frames and the standards 7 are connected together at the bottom by tie rods 11, surrounded by spaced tubes 12. The shell-tightening bands 13, that contain the usual grooves 14 for the sliding doors 15, are secured to the standards 7 by the. adjusting bolts 16. The ends of the standards 7 that underlie the openings3 in the shell 1 are of hollou7 formation to receive the rollers 5 and 6 in water tight chambers 17, the upper -ends of the walls 18 of the chambers 17 fitting the outer side of the shell wall 4 in a leakproof manner. The rollers 5 and 6 are journaled, preferably through the intermediation of roller bearings 19, on pintles 20, that pass through openings therefor in the walls 18 of the chambers 17. The wall 18 of each pocket or chamber 17 is provided with an opening 21, that provides convenientaccess fromthe exterior to the rollers o and 6, and that is preferably large enough for the passage of the roller therethrough. T\"Vithdrawable closures or cover plates 22 for the openings 2.1 are made watertight through the interposition of gaskets 23.

Vithin the shell is a movable vessel 24 that carries the clothes or other material to be Washed, and that is known to the art as a cylinder, although its shape need not necessarily be truly cylindrical, and variations may be made from a strictly cylindrical form without involving a departure from its technical denomination as a cylinder. It will be understood, therefore, that, wherever the term cylinder occurs in the description and '.f claims, it is used in this broader sense. Rings or hoops 25 surround the cylindrical wall 26 of the cylinder 24 at each end and serve as threads to engage the rollers 5 and 6. If desired, the cylinder may be divided into a plurality of compartments by transverse partitions 27, one such partition being shown in the present instance. A flexible annular metal band 28 its around the cylinder wall 26 at each partition 27. Such a band may bear sprocket teeth 29, that are engaged by a sprocket chain 30, driven by a suitable header or reversing mechanism for rotating the cylinder alternately in opposite directions. The wall 26 is provided with substantially rectangular openings 31, one for each compartment. Each Vof the openings 31, in the washer of the aforesaid application is closed by a door hinged at the upper edge 32, of the opening so that it will open inwardly. Hoops or treads 25, and 28, overlie the lat- Y eral edges 33, of the openings 31, thereat and thereby limit the outward movement of the doors, whose lateral edge portions abut against the inner sides of the hoops 25 and 28 when the doors are closed. In addition to its inwardly opening feature, the door is formed of three pivotally connected sections that may be collapsed or folded inwardly so as to aord better access to the interior of the cylinder. Vhen the door is closed, it is upper edge 32 of the door opening.

convex exteriorly to lit the lateral edges of its opening, and all the hinges lie in an exteriorly convex curve, of which the straight line connecting the upper and lower edges of the opening is a chord. The lower edges 34, of the door openings is alined with resilient means for urging the lower edge of the door upwardly, whereby the arrangement of the hinged sections and' associated parts constitutes a toggle-joint mechanism', whereby the door, in being opened or closed, must be shifted past a point of maximum pressure, that is, the point or Zone where the hinge axes all lie in the same straight line with the lower edge 34 of the door openings, the pressure of the resilient means tending to urge the door into its extreme closed position after it has been pulled outwardly past the said zone of maximum pressure. The said resilient means comprised a pair of telescoping channel strips arranged along the lower edge 34, of the opening and urged apart by a series of interposed coil springs. The doors had been held in their extreme open positions by folding their lower sections against their upper sections and clasping the two sections together by means of a clasp whose co-operating elements were attached to the respective door sections, the intermediate door section serving to facilitate the meeting of the clasped ends by spreading apart the inner edges of the convex upper and lower sections.

The present invention eliminates the clasp for holding the door in open position and, also, eliminates the intermediate door section, the upper and lower door sections being hinged directly to each other and the door being maintained. in its open position merely by its own weight. To this end, the door of the present invention comprises an upper section 35, having its lower edge hingedat 36 to the upper edge of a lower section 37. The upper edge of the upper section 35, is hinged at 38 to the forward edge of an angle bar or beam 39 of L-shaped cross-section, the hinge 38 having one of its sections or flaps bolted or otherwise suitably secured to the inner face of the flange 40 of said beams 39, the outer face of said flange 40 forming a continuation of the outer face of the cylinder. The flange 41 of the beam 39 abuts against the The ends of flange 40 are bolted at 42 to the undersides of the hoops 25 and 28, and the entire door,

or sea-ts in a concave conformation or chan-Y nel socket 44 in the upper face of the chan- 'nel strip or bar 45, which is arranged in telescop'ing relation of the channel strip or bar 46, attached to the lower edge 34 of the door opening The said bars 45 and 46 are urged Iapart by a leaf spring 47 interposed between their web portions. The leaf spring 47 is preferably built up of brass leaves or plates to :make a large and rugged construction that idoles not retain the lint of the laundry or contents of the washer as do the numerous small coil springs in the telescoping channel bars of the aforesaid application for patent with their numerous crevices. The door sections 35 and 37 are preferably 'formed substantially flat of sheet metal, instead of being curved to conform to the curved-inner faces of the hoops or bands 25 and 28, and the space intervenmg between the chord-shaped lateral edges 48 of the door sections 35 and 37 and the curved bands 25 and 28 is filled by seg'- ments 49 and 50, that underlie the bands 25 and 28, and are preferably formed of brass or other suitable non-rusting material and secured to the abutting band 25 and 28 or to the adjacent lateral edges 33 of the door openings in any suitable manner, thereby forming flanges that fit and overlie the lateral edge-portions 48 of the door sections to prevent their outward movement and, also, to support the thin door sections agains distortion. The lower edge 51 of the lower segments 50 forms a stop that limits the upward movement of the channel strip 45 under the influence of the leaf spring 47 Each of the upper segments 49 is provided on its inner or under side with a notch 52, adapted to receive the respective adjacent end of the bead 43 of the lower door section 37 after the door has been opened and pushed inwardly and upwardly to a position slightly higher than that indicated by the broken lines in Figure 3, and then allowed to fall back along the inner face of the segment 49 until the bead 43 enters the notch 52, which then arrests the further descent of the door. The ends of the lower edge of the lower door section are guided along flanges or rails 53 that project from the inner sides of the cylinder heads 54 and from the opposite sides of the partition or partitions 27. The edges of the rails 53 are rounded and their rear ends 55 tapered to prevent the catching and tearing of the contents of the cylinder thereon. While both door sections may be of the same length, it is deemed preferable to make the lower door section 37 longer than the upper door section 35, the effect of this being that the hinge 36 must occupy a position farther upward and rearward when the bead 43 is seated in the stop-notch 52, than is the case when both door sections are of equal length, thereby increasing the turning moment of the door, due to its weight, about the hinge 38 and thereby the more forcibly holding the bead 43 in the notch seat 52. Moreover, the

door 'is held open much wider, thereby afford;

ing better access to the interior of the cylinder. Furthermore, if the lower door section is longer than the upper door section, a better leverage can be obtained to operate the door ywhen the operating `force is exerted against the upper portion of the lower door section. v

The lower door section 37 is preferably formed with its upper portion bulging inwardly to form a reinforcing rib 56 onits inner side and a recess 57 on its outer side, The rib 56 preferably extends nearly,-but not entirely, across the width of the door, the end portions ofthe rib beingpreferably'tapci-ed and terminating short of the lateral edge portions 48 of the door section 37 in order to provide clearance for the guide flanges 53 and to avoid abrupt projections ,and narrow crevices. Plates 58, welded'or otherwise suitably secured to the outer face of the lower door section 37, cover the end portions of the recess 57 and thereby, also, contribute to the rigidity ofthe structure. The inner ends of plates 58 are provided with ears 59, that' are bent inwardly into the recess and are of a size and shape to form partitions in the recess that define a pocket 60 between them. A rod 6l extends through the pocketffrom one vear to the other, the ends of the rods preferably extending through, and being suitably secured in, the said ears. The pocket 61 also preferably contains a pair of clasps 62 for holding an identifying element for the contents of that compartment of the washer, that is covered by the door in question, such, for instance, as the usual tag and the pin by means of which it is secured to the net or laundry bag of a. particular customer.` The pin and tag, therefore, need not be placed as usual in the compartment of the washertogether with the contents which it identifies, thereby avoiding possible wear and tear of the contents by the pin and tag. The clasps are preferably formed of resilient sheet or plate metal strips, bent to a suitable shape and having their inner ends 63 suitably attached tothe lower lateral wall 64 of the pocket 60, the outer ends of the strips 62 bearing resiliently `on the `wall 64 and curving outwardly to form a receptive mouth for receiving the tag or pin between the intermediate elevated portions 66 of the strips 62. To prevent throwing of water by the pocket 60 when the cylinder rotates, the

pocket is preferably covered with a lid 67,l

hinged to the outer face of the section 37 at 68, the hinge pin 69 being rigid with'the lid 67 so as to turn therewith and having a squared end 70 .projecting from one end of the hinge. A flat spring 71, secured to the section 37, engages the squared end 70 so that the lid 67 may be maintained. thereby alternately in open or closed position.

To open the door from its closed'positiom,4

viso

inwardly directed pressure is exerted by the lub handI of the operator while clutching the rod 6l, the size of the pocket 60 and the size and positioning of the handle 6l therein being such as to accommodate conveniently the hand of the operator, the inwardly directed pressure moving the lower edge 43 of the lower door section 37 and the channel strip 45 downwardly against the expansile effort of spring 47 until the point of maximum togglejoint pressure has been passed, after which, spring 47 re-eXpands to collapse the door inwardly until limited by the stop edges 50. The further inward movement of the door is affected by the effort of the operator and, also, by the weight of the door, the door section 37 being guided by the flanges 53 to maintain the angular relation between the sections 35 and 37 within proper limits, the section 37 being lifted so that the bead 43 falls behind the notches 52, which arrest the descent of the door under the influence of its Weight. To close the door, the edge 43 is pushedback to disengage it from its seats 52, and the door section 37 is thereby allowed Yto drop, and is pulled outwardly, the edge 43 again being guided by the fianges 53 into engagement with the seat 44 in the channel strip 45, after which spring 47 is again compressed until the point of maximum toggle-j oint pressure has been passed, after which the spring 47 assists the operator in bringing the door into its extreme closed position. The hinges 3.6 and 38 preferably extend across the full width of the door, so as to minimize the wear thereon and to eliminate cracks between the door sections. It will be observed that the construction is such that the door remains tight at all times and regardless of wear and tear on the hinges and of any distortion of the cylinder. It is also worthy of note that the sheet metal construction of the door renders it extremely light in weight, so that it can be opened and closed many times more easily than a wooden door, and that the lightness is obtained without .the sacrifice of ample rigidity. due to the segment flanges 49 and 50, to the rib 56, and, also, to the hinges 36 and 38 and the bead 43. The seating of the bead 43 in the socket 44 opposes transverse vibration of the door thereat, while permitting a pivotal movement to open or close the door. Manifestly the door is also applicable to either wood or metal cylinders. Attention is also directed to the fact that, when the door is closed, the notch conforniations 52 lie ei;-

Vteriorly of the chamber of the cylinder, so

In order to facilitate the removal of the rollers 5 and 6, suitable holes or perforations 73 may be made in the upper part of the shell l and the doors l5 ofthe shell, the holes being preferably so locatedthat one of the perforations 74 in each end of the wall 26 of the cylinder may be brought into registration therewith. An elongated supporting element 75, such, for example, as a suitable bolt, may then be passed through the openings 73 and 74 and through a suitable beam 76, permanently or temporarily erected on the spacer tubes l0 of the washer. When the nuts '77 on the upper ends of the bolts 7 5 are turned in the proper direction, the cylinder will be lifted from the rollers 5 and 6'.

I-Iavingthus fully described this invention, I I

l', hereby reserve the benefit of all changes in form, arrangement, order, or use of parts, as 1t is evident that many minor changesmay be made therein without departing from the .-2

spirit of this invention or the scope ofthe following claims.

I claim:

l. In a washer of the character described,

a cylinder having an openingprovided with z a collapsible door adapted to be extended to close the opening and to be collapsed to open the opening, the cylinder bearing a conformation that lies exteriorly of its chamber when the door is in closed position and Athat i1 -acts as a stop to prevent the closing ofthe door when the latter is in an open position.

2. In a washer of the character described, a cylinder having an opening provided with a closure foldable inwardly upon itself toopen the opening, the cylinder bearing a conformation that lies eXteriorly of its chain- 4 ber when the closure is in closed position and that acts as a stop to prevent the closing of iio the closure when the latter isin an open position.

3. In a washer of the character described, a cylinder having an opening and a door for closing the said opening and comprising a pair of pivotally connected sections adaptedr to be folded inwardly of the cylinder, one of which is pivotally connected to the cylinder and the other of which is arranged to engage a portion of the cylinder to maintain the door in closed position and to-engage another portion of the cylinder to maintain the door in open position. A

4. In a. washer of the character described, a cylinder having an opening` provided with a door foldable upon itself to open interiorly and upwardly, and a stop on the cylinder arranged to intercept the descent of the folded door.

5. In a washer of the charactervdescribedgj.,

and provided with an opening, a door for the opening foldable upon itself to open interiorly and upwardly, and means forlimiting the descent of the lifted door when it is folded to a predetermined degree.

6. In a washer of the character described and provided with a downwardly extending opening, a door for the opening comprising a pair of hinged sections foldable to open interiorly and upwardly, the upper section pivoting adjacent the upper edge of the opening, and the lower section being longer than the upper section, and means adapted to be engaged by the outer edge of the lower section when it is folded and lifted to a predetermined degree for limiting the descent of the door.

7. In a washer of the character described, a door having a pocket, a hinged closure for the pocket, and spring means for maintaining said closure alternately in open and closed positions.

8. In a washer of the character described and provided with an opening, a collapsible door for closing the opening, the arrangement being such that the door is convex exteriorly when closed, and is collapsed inwardly when open, the door bearing resiliently against one edge, at least, of the said opening to maintain itself in closed position, the said edge and the adjacent edge of the door having complemental conformations that co-operate to oppose transverse vibration of the door at the said co-operating edges.

9. A sealing strip for the door of a washer comprising a pair of opposed telescoping channel bars and a leaf spring extending 1ongitudinally therein and bearing against each of said bars to urge them apart.

10. In a washer of the character described and provided with an opening in a cylindrical wall, an inwardly opening door formed of flat sheet metal sections hinged together along an axis parallel tothe aXis of the cylinder, the said wall havingflanges that overlie the lateral edges of the sections to prevent their outward movement, and the inner sides of the flanges conforming to the shape of the abutting parts of the door to prevent distortion of the latter.

11. In a washer of the character described, a door formed of sheet metal having' a portion bulging inwardly to define a recess, closures for the end portions of said recess, said closures having their inner ends bent into said recess, in spaced relation, to define a pocket and a hinged closure for said pocket.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

ALLEN R. ALLSUP. 

